What is an immediate constituent?

Definition
	An immediate constituent is any one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a construction. Immediate constituents are often further reducible.

Examples (English)
	In the complex noun phrase the dog that killed the cat, each of the following items are immediate constituents: the dog that killed the cat

Generic
	An immediate constituent is a kind of
	What is a constituent?

Sources
	Crystal 1985 68
	Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985 38
	Mish 1991 281

Context for this page:

Concept module: immediate constituent
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): I
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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